Federal Parliament Begins Inquiry Into Inauthentic Aboriginal Art
Monday 14 August 2017 @ 11.31 a.m. | IP & Media
The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs are holding an inquiry into ‘the growing presence of inauthentic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and craft products and merchandise for sale across Australia’. The inquiry was referred by Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Senator the Hon Nigel Scullion. The Committee is currently taking submissions on the terms of reference, asking for responses by Friday 6 October 2017.
In a media release announcing the inquiry, Chair of the Committee Melissa Price MP said:
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and communities rely on revenue obtained through the sale of hand-made and culturally authentic products.
The aims of the inquiry are to identify ways to prevent the exploitation and misuse of indigenous culture through the proliferation of inauthentic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander products.”
Terms of reference
The terms of reference for the inquiry are:
“The Committee will inquire into and report on the growing presence of inauthentic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ‘style’ art and craft products and merchandise for sale across Australia, including:
- the definition of authentic art and craft products and merchandise;
- current laws and licensing arrangements for the production, distribution, selling and reselling of authentic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and craft products and merchandise;
- an examination of the prevalence of inauthentic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ‘style’ art and craft products and merchandise in the market;
- options to promote the authentic products for the benefit of artists and consumers; and
- options to restrict the prevalence of inauthentic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ‘style’ art and craft products and merchandise in the market.”
Artists have Raised Concerns
A team of artists, curators and arts and legal organisations have been lobbying the Federal Government to take action on the proliferation of inauthentic Aboriginal arts and crafts products. Guardian Australia has reported that the Fake Art Harms Culture campaign estimates “up to 80% of stores that sell apparently Indigenous products are selling fakes, many made in and imported from Asian and Pacific countries such as Indonesia and China.”
Indigenous Art code CEO Gabrielle Sullivan told ABC News that:
“If someone copied someone's original artwork and put it on a shirt it's an infringement, but if somebody gets a factory in China to make a pastiche of Aboriginal design, but not copying anyone directly, that's not protected…
It violates culture, it's taking the economic opportunity away, but it's also taking control of that resource that's [the artist's] to manage and they've got no say in how that's done.”
A previous inquiry into misconduct into the Indigenous art trade led to the establishment of a voluntary commercial code of conduct known as the Indigenous Art Code. However, in 2012, the administrators of the Code reported that there were still “significant unethical and unfair treatment and exploitation of Indigenous artists”. According to the Guardian Australia report, the Government said at the time it would not pursue “alternative regulatory options”.
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